Competing Institutional Logics? Local Accountability and Scale and Efficiency in an Expanding Non-Profit Housing Sector
| Published date | 01 September 2006 |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207670602100302 |
| Author | David Mullins |
| Date | 01 September 2006 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
6
Competing
Institutional
Logics?
Local
Accountability
and
Scale
and
Efficiency
in
an
Expanding
Non-Profit
Housing
Sector
David Mullins
University
of Birmingham
Abstract
Housing
associations
provide
an
example
of
the
non-profit
sector
taking
a
major
role
in
public
service
provision.
This
article
tracks
the
implications
for
public
accountability
of
their
growth
over
the
past
25
years
to
become
the
main
providers
of
social
housing.
It
uses
the
concept
of
institutional
logics
to
highlight
the
conflicting
accountability
drivers
they
face
and
the
organisational
choices
this
is forcing
them
to
make.
Two
competing
logics
are
dominant
in
the
current
period:
scale
and
efficiency
and
local
accountability.
Case
studies
map
the
impact of
these
competing
logics
on
organisational
change.
The
future
development
of
the
sector
could
involve
displacement
of
one
logic
by
the
other,
continued
co-existence
of
the
two
logics
or
fragmentation
of
the
field.
A
fourth
possibility
is
that
existing
logics
will
be
transformed
by
private
sector
market
entry.
Introduction
Housing
has
been
described
as
’the
only
public
service
where
substantial
Third
Sector
not-for-profit
companies
flourish’
(Wadhams,
2006
p.7).
Kendall’s
broader
overview
of
the
voluntary
sector
confirmed
that
housing
associations
comprised
’one
of
the
most
prominent
areas
of
economic
growth
in
the
voluntary
sector
in
the
1990s’
(Kendall,
2003
p.134).
Housing
associations
now
own
around
2
million
homes
in
England
with
an
asset
worth
of
£70
billion
and
an
annual
turnover
of
£8.3billion,
a
pre-tax
surplus
of
£444
million
and
employ
118,000
people
(Housing
Corporation,
2005a).
The
largest
associations
are
substantial
companies
with
property
holdings
larger
than
all
but
the
largest
municipal
landlords
ever
held,
diverse
income
streams
and
complex
structures.
The
housing
association
sector
therefore
provides
a
fascinating
context
in
which
to
observe
shifts
in
public
accountability
associated
with
institutional
7
change
and
the
transfer
of
public
services
to
the
non-profit
sector.
Over
25
years
there
have
been
significant
increases
in
the
scale
and
activities
undertaken
by
housing
associations,
and
associated
changes
in
their
internal
governance
and
their
external
regulation,
and
in
patterns
of
accountability.
Many
stories
have
been
told
about
the
growth
and
transformation
of
housing
associations,
variously
depicting
this
as a
move
away
from
monolithic
state
services
(Power,
A.,
1987),
the
erosion
of
local
democracy
(Davis
and
Spencer,
1995),
governing
in
the
name
of
community
(McDermont,
2004),
privatization
(Ginsburg,
2005),
replacement
of
hierarchies
by
network
governance
(Reid,
1995),
and
delivering
efficiency
and
modernisation
(Housing
Corporation,
2005b).
This
article
summarises
three
main
phases
of
institutional
change
and
considers
impacts
on
accountabilities.
The
concept
of
institutional
logics
is
outlined
and
case
study
research
is
used
to
illustrate
an
underlying
tension
between
the
logics
of
scale
and
efficiency
on
the
one
hand
and
local
accountability
on
the
other.
This
informs
speculation
about
where
next
for
the
housing
sector
and
implications
for
the
wider
involvement
of
non-profit
organisations
in
public
service
delivery.
Institutional
change
and
accountability
impacts
The
growth
of
the
non-profit
housing
sector
over
the
past
quarter
century
can
be
depicted
as
a
process of
shifting
governance
in
which
assets
and
strategic
policy
levers
have
been
progressively
stripped
away
from
local
government
and
responsibility
for
delivery
of
social
housing
vested
with
the
voluntary
boards
of
independent
organisations.
This
process
has
had
two
main
components.
First
since
the
1980s
virtually
all
new
publicly
funded
social
housing
has
been
constructed
by
housing
associations
rather
than
local
authorities -
around
half
a
million
new
homes
have
been
built
in
this
way
since
1980.
Second
since
1988
over
150
local
authorities
have
transferred
their
housing
stock
to
over
200
housing
associations
(mostly
newly
established
associations).
A
variety
of
factors
accounting
for
this
process
of
’demunicipalisation’
of
housing
have
been
rehearsed
in
the
literature.
However,
as
the
account
below
shows,
the
gradual
displacement
of
council
housing
by
housing
associations
was
not
a
grand
plan,
but
rather
an
incremental
process
of
change
with
different
drivers
in
different
periods.
In
the
’capacity
building’
phase
of
the
1970s
the
drivers
included
housing
improvement
policies
and
the
wish
to
create
greater
diversity
of
ownership
(Malpass,
2000).
In
the
1980s,
ideological
factors
were
more
prominent
with
’the
regime’s
aspiration
to
take
away
the
power
and
influence
of
local
authorities’
(Kendall,
2003,
p.139).
Meanwhile,
after
1988
the
public
expenditure
case
for
using
’mixed
(public
and
private)
funding’
to
build
and
renew
social
housing
’off
balance
sheet’
became
the
overwhelming
driver.
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